The Weapon Master's Transmigration

When she descended down the stairs, all her favorite things were prepared. Including her favorite foods. Although there wasn"t much that were her favorites.

Bacon and eggs served with rice. She liked the taste of rice after being introduced to it and eventually became so used to it she couldn"t eat anything else except for confections and pastries without it.

Pancakes slathered all over with maple syrup. Hot milk that was still steaming and a few brownies for dessert.

And together with them, were probably her most favorite people in the world.

A person, although not exactly a person as she"d been told but a spirit. That served as an elder brother figure.

She hadn"t gotten along with them from the start but over time, she had laced the individual close to her heart.

An individual who was like a big sister yet now just seemed like a mother to her.

She had been there for her from the very start. Always wearing a smile. Making delicious food and giving her compliments when she wanted them.

And finally, a being that, although she had initially hated. A person she hated for not being there. A person she despised for always being somewhere else. A person that she would secretly cry over the past for never being by her side.

She would have never expected that kind of person to be the one she loved the most.

As Eva thought of such things to herself, she considered that maybe she should widen her vocabulary a bit more.

Cole was stuffing things into a small luggage case. It had the baby blue color that was Eva"s favorite color and a bunny pattern. It had extra clothes and some drawing materials Cole had gotten from Gemi yesterday.

He had Felicia store it in her inventory so it wouldn"t be obvious.

"Ara? It seems my little bunny is awake but..."

Coel had already noticed Eva the moment she stepped on the stairs. The instant she had fully descended to the first floor, Cole swooped her up in his arms and gave her a hug.

"Her eyes have turned red! This is unacceptable! There must be a cure to this!"

"Papa... I"m fine."

"?"

Cole was planning to fill Eva"s morning with happiness so she could use it to fight off the sadness that would come with them having to part in a few hours. In all honesty, Cole could do the mission a bit later than he was planning to but he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

It was also because he still had to account for the travel time it would take to get to the tournament venue in the first place.

"Papa loves me so..."

"Papa will definitely come back, right?"

She said with a smile. It seems that she really was fine. Although Cole wanted to be the one to comfort her, the job had been splendidly completed already. Cole responded to Eva"s smile with a smile of his own.

"Yeah! But Eva needs to be healthy when I come back. So, go and eat breakfast. Felicia and I already ate."

Eva nodded and Cole let her down and allowed her to waddle towards the kitchen table.

"I never before thought that the famed Weapon Master I had always admired would be such a doting father."

"Well, I have to be. She"s my daughter. And I don"t want to let her down."

Before he knew it, Felicia had crept up to him and said such.

"And I don"t want her to end up being like me after all..."

Cole kept that last sentence to himself.

"After she takes a bath, we"ll have to bring her to Val"s place."

"It"s better than leaving her alone in this house together with Libra."

Just in the middle of Cole"s chat with Felicia, a familiar synthetic voice popped up in Cole"s head.

〔Um, Cole...?〕

"What is is it? Recreation of my mental a.s.sistance AI?"

〔Wow. You figured that out fast.〕

What Cole meant by that remark was that the AI that was currently talking in his head right now was merely a replica of his previous AI.

Cole didn"t actually need it but it was made from the a.n.a.lysis of Cole"s mental state when he was 13 years old. The neurochip embedded in his brains had a.s.sessed that he would need a companion to constantly talk to, thus the creation of the AI.

Although Cole thought that it was something unnecessary, he couldn"t get rid of it.

He wasn"t sure about what to feel when he gained it again. Steward didn"t seem to have much problem with it either and just continued

〔But anyway, here"s the fastest route to get to the venue.〕

"Despite you only being a recreation based off my memories, you"re pretty skilled."

〔Well, the neurochip in your brain is way more advanced than the one currently in use in the〈Avant Zone〉〕

"Hmmm... I"ll keep that in mind."

Steward then stopped talking. Cole felt like he was talking to a second Libra of when he first met them. Popping in and out whenever they felt like it. But with the last message from Steward, it confirmed one thing for Cole.

"...I guess that thing Lucille said about each Zone was true, huh...?"

"Did you say something just now?"

"No, it"s nothing."

After Eva was prepared, Felicia opened a portal and they made their way to the〈Fantasia Zone〉

"Yo, Val. You already cleared things up--"

Cole paused in the middle of his friendly greeting. He had Felicia block Eva"s eyesight for a bit and then stared Val right down to the bone.

Cole"s eyes conveyed the message of "Cover that up first or else I"ll cut you into a million pieces with my strings."

Val touched the side of his neck and realized what Cole meant and covered it up by making scales cover his entire neck just in case. He also fully b.u.t.toned up his shirt, just in case.

「O-Okay, Cole. She can"t see it so please don"t throw me all the way to kingdom come again, please.」

Felicia removed her hands from Eva"s face and Cole just told Val to hurry up and guide them. They had a long schedule awaiting them.

Val hurried up and transformed into his Dragon form and flew everyone to his actual home cave. The one Cole met him at was treated something like a summer villa.

During the entire trip, Eva was clinging onto whatever was near her. It turns out that she had a fear of heights. Since whatever luggage they had was stored in Felicia"s inventory, she ended up grabbing every single person on Val.

It only took about an hour for them to reach their destination.

"...I"m never flying again..."

"It"s okay, Eva! As long as you deny the possibility of you falling, you"ll be able to overcome your fear!"

"Really?"

"Is that advice really okay?"

"I don"t think to deny your fear is the right way to go..."

"If the denial bounces out the feat then..."

The three onlookers weren"t sure if Felicia"s advice was a good thing or not and decided to just continue on.

"It"s weird how the lush green forests we were in just an hour ago turned into this devastating h.e.l.lscape."

Val"s home cave was located on top of a black mountain. The only thing is that the mountain was actually just cooled off lava from a giant volcano they could see a few hundred meters to the right. Felicia had started to wonder if leaving Eva in such a place with a nearby danger hazard was really okay.

「Don"t worry. It won"t erupt for another hundred years.」

「If it did, that"s probably just the Fire Dragon King being grumpy again.」

"Okay then."

"O-Okay."

Felicia seemed to be satisfied with that answer somehow and Cole had trust in Val"s parent"s capabilities. Eva stuttered to answer and seriously thought to herself.

"I get the feeling I"ll die before Papa and Felicia come back."

Cole held her hand the entire time they ascended the mountain and a.s.sured her with his smile. Despite that, it didn"t shake off the natural fear she had for dying in a fire. Or melting. Then again, she was still five so it was understandable.

"Ara, ara... If it isn"t Sir Cole and Felicia?"

"Lala! I heard about the baby! Congratulations!"

Felicia immediately ran up to Lala and gave her a nice hug. She had already brought out Eva"s luggage case so Cole wouldn"t complain.

"Ara...? Is that Eva? She"s so cute... I hope our second child will also be a female..."

Lala peeked past Felicia and stared at the Eva who was still tightly clutching Cole"s hand.

Val had the face that was on the verge of tears when the first person his wife greeted wasn"t him. Cole"s other hand was being used to pat him on the back.

"Umm... Cheer up, buddy. When you come back form the〈Huaxia Zone〉, you"ll be bringing loads of souvenirs you can give to Lala and Braith. So don"t get b.u.mmed over it."

「No... The reason she"s not talking to me is probably that she"s still embarra.s.sed from last night. Maybe I roughed her up too much...」

"..."

Cole felt like his effort in comforting his friend was wasted for some reason.

Cole looked at Libra who was silent the entire morning and was also mute for the entire trip as well. For some reason, his eyes were dead inside as he stared at Val.

The four of them decided to leave the women be and show Eva where she would be staying for the duration of the Mission.

The furniture were all well-made and the rough-cave floor was covered with thick carpets or extremely soft rugs that you would rather sleep on than your own stone cold bed. The fancy lights made from magic were apparently called magic tools glowed with different colors made Eva think that the place wasn"t as bad as she initially thought.

"...Papa... This is where I"ll be staying for the next week or two?"

"Yeah."

Eva seemed to be entranced by all the things she had never seen before in her small, closed-up world. The things from her storybooks could happen here. It was truly a Zone for fantasy.

With such a bright smile on Eva"s face, Cole could feel at ease that she wouldn"t have any problems staying there for a while.

And now it was just a bit more until the〈Huaxia Zone〉